The heads of state and government of the EU countries will be introduced today at their meeting in Brussels with the plan for the victory of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, BTA reported.
Zelensky is expected to attend the meeting in the Belgian capital in person after presenting the plan to the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv yesterday.
The Ukrainian president will also participate in the meeting of the defense ministers of the NATO countries.
Zelensky presented yesterday his "plan for victory" before the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament), calling on allies to take urgent steps to support Kiev at a precarious time in its bid to end the war with Russia next year.
Yesterday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told journalists that he is aware of the details of Zelensky's plan and that he is in contact with the member countries of the alliance regarding the next steps.
"The victory plan, of course, we discuss a lot with them and we use every opportunity to take another step forward," said Rutte.
The European Council will discuss the possibilities of increasing the number of returned migrants who arrived illegally in the EU. Increasing the security of Europe's external borders, the fight against money laundering and countering the use of migrants for political purposes are expected to be discussed. The proposal of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, for changes in the European legislation on migration is also expected to be discussed.
The rest of the topics on the agenda will be related to the situation in the Middle East. The heads of state and government of the EU countries took part yesterday in Brussels in their first joint meeting with their counterparts from the Persian Gulf countries.
In the meantime, it has become clear that the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office is investigating 49 prosecutors in the western Ukrainian Khmelnytskyi region for an alleged attempt to avoid military service by purchasing the status of a disabled person, the prosecutor's office announced, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
strong>
Chief Prosecutor Andriy Kostin has signed an order for an internal investigation, his department announced. The chief prosecutor of the region is one of the 49, according to a message on the information portal Censor.net.
His filing said prosecutors apparently received disability pensions, which they arranged through payments to a woman who served on the regional council from President Volodymyr Zelensky's party. She is accused of classifying thousands of Ukrainians as disabled and therefore unfit for military service in exchange for money.
The woman and her son, who headed the regional pension fund and were reported to be involved, were detained, the report said, adding that the son had more than $10 million in cash in the country and abroad and owns three homes in Ukraine and Europe.
it also states that obtaining a certificate of disability costs up to $4,000. Most of the applicants are women. The idea is that if a woman is disabled, then her husband, who is of legal age, will have to take care of her and thus be removed from the list of those subject to mobilization. Those avoiding the project hide because it is the woman who applies for the benefit.
It is reported that the investigations are not limited to the prosecutor's office in Khmelnytskyi region, but are expected to cover other prosecutor's offices as well.
According to the non-governmental organization "Transparency International" Ukraine, which aims to join the European Union and NATO, is considered one of the most corrupt countries in Europe after Russia, DPA added.